The Lady Frances and the Lady Catherine Jones Daughters to the Right Hon:ble Richard Earle of Ranelagh: 17th century

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The Lady Frances and the Lady Catharine Jones, Daughters to the Right Honble Richard Earle of Ranelagh. Engraving and mezzotint. The possession of young Africans as 'servants' was highly regarded as a statement of both wealth and fashion. In less than fifty years, the rising merchant classes – especially the 'West Indians' i.e. those whose wealth came from the West Indies – were similarly able to publicly demonstrate their increasing social status. This image also serve to remind us how slave ownership spread through British society.